Rating: 
Summary: The Entertaiment of History
Review: Let's face it. We go to movies to be entertained. And enlightened. And informed. And all of the other reasons we shell out our hard earned cash. But primarily, we go to movies to be entertained, perhaps for a couple of hours, perhaps to live in a life that is totally not like ours.
Much has been said about Amistad, and the glaring, whitewashed history it seems to offer. However, taking history, and blending into a movie is always a tricky business; much of it at the discretion of the producers and director who have one primary motivation: that is, to the story. They must tell a story, story is first. How many times have we sat through a movie with such an unbelievablly weak story, and you've found yourself checking your watch every five minutes for it to end? This doesn't happen at any time with Amistad, Steve Spielberg's retelling of a famous slave revolt on board a Spanish slave ship, and the chilling aftermath. Both brutal and richly drawn, this movie deserved much more praise and acclaim than it received.
Amistad introduces us to Cinque, a brash, intelligent man captured into slavery. Smart enough to understand the situation without having to understand English, Cinque organizes a revolt on the ship transporting him to slavery after cunningly breaking free from his chains. The captain tricks the freed slaves by taking them west instead of home to the east, and into jail. As with almost everything in America, the legal system becomes embroiled with these people and their eventual fate.
Stellar performances reign in this movie, from the always amazing Morgan Freeman, to the understated performance of Anthony Hopkins at John Q Adams, who eventually represented the Africans in the Supreme Court. However, one performance soars, literally soars over the rest, and the is newcomer Djimon Hounsou. His work is breathtaking as he literally becomes Cinque. The moment when he stands up in court and speaks English for the first time, requesting his freedom, is enough to provoke goosebumps and tears. Why Hollywood hasn't used Hounson more is beyond me.
Another unlauded part of this film is the beautifully, haunting score. It's a richly layered musical performance that illuminates the story, while incorporating elements of African music. People say that if you notice things like the music while watching a movie that you really aren't into it; but in this case, you notice the music as an integral part of the masterpiece.
When creating a historically based movie, though, you must be given some dramatic license to tell the story the best way possible. If you've ever watched a movie based on an historical event, it's always modified in some ways. Those that aren't are called documentaries. If you want to know the story of Amistad, I highly recommend a wonderful documentary called "Voyage of La Amistad: Quest for Freedom". There you can learn.
Amistad is not a movie that makes you feel good, or makes you feel comfortable. The stain of slavery is dyed permanently into our national fabric, and we, as a nation, need to learn how to deal with this. Amistad takes us a step forward. We must remember. We must remember. Amistad allows us to remember.
Rating: 
Summary: Thought-provoking
Review: I find it interesting to read the negative reviews offered by critics who fault the movie for distorting history. Some of these bash the movie for giving too much credit to the Africans and African Americans (through Cinque and the fictional Joadson character) and too little to white abolitionists. Others bash the movie for casting the Africans as too passive, as helpless victims rescued by noble and brilliant white activists.
I myself prefer historical films be as accurate as possible. But I accept that some artistic license and fictionalization must be taken to make this a drama rather than a documentary. As a drama, then, it seems from the divided opinions of the historically minded critics that Spielberg has struck at least a rough balance; that is, he doesn't seem to have gone to such an extreme in his personal interpretation and retelling of the events as to provoke a unanimous response from (self-proclaimed) period experts.
My own opinion is that the movie works well, as long as it is taken as a point of departure rather than a final word. I think its value lies in raising questions, outlining issues and sparking the imagination. Any intelligent viewer will sense and suspect that things weren't exactly as portrayed in the film. And if some of these viewers are spurred to look at the case more closely, so much the better.
And for naive or unimaginative viewers who are content to take the film as True description, I still think they'll know more about the incident and its historical context after seeing the film than before. (Unlike obvious pigswill like Gladiator, The Patriot and Troy, where you know less about history after viewing than you did before).
The film is well crafted, even if a bit stark/simplistic, and raises important questions even if some of them are contrived.
Rating:
Summary: Serious stuff
Review: A good serious movie about slavery. On the one hand, I like the level of realism shown in the capture and subsequent fate of a group of African men. On the other hand, the characters of the enslaved warriors doesn't receive the same level of realism, and I felt like there wasn't a bad soul among them. The few action scenes, notably an escape attempt in the opening, are handled with the usual Spielberg masterful touch. However, the bulk of the movie is talky and slow-moving, with a lot of heavy-handed moralism. It made me feel really awful about slavery, and gives you a real sense of the transition between their lives of freedom in Africa, and their captivity. In modern society, too much focus is put on American blacks after slavery; the stereotypes of the poorly educated negro are enduring, but the proud ancestry of black americans goes back further.
Rating:
Summary: powerful
Review: regardless of historical accuracy, the film still gives vivid insight into the life of a captured slave. i also thought the film was fairly entertaining. and as for the remarks made by Octavius, first of all, the abolitionist movement was well underway in the 1840s, the kkk was NOT formed in Connecticut, it was formed in Pulaski,Tennessee as a social club by a group of confederate army veterans. i suggest you take a U.S. history course before making such claims in the future Octavius.
Rating:
Summary: Amistad, not to forget, a movie to see
Review: One of Spielberg's finer films, Amistad is actually based on a true story about the human beings right or lack of to live free. The movie started out on a slave ship when the Africans that had been enslaved broke free and revolted. After being mislead by the two Spanish survivors, the Africans landed on American soil. Their landing then ensued one of the most controversial and historically significant series of court battles in the United States history.
Spielberg does an excellent job portraying the struggle for the Africans freedom. With some nice shots and some good actors the movie does the struggle over the Amistad some good justice. Speaking of actors, Djimon Hounsou does a superb job acting as the reluctant leader of the Africans. Also, Matthew McConaughey does an equally excellent job as the first lawyer for the Africans. Although I tend to dislike Spielberg, he made a movie which all should see. A nice 4 out of 5 star job.
Rating: 
Summary: Shockingly bad for a Spielberg
Review: I'll keep this very short. This might not be fair to the movie but I thought the first 15 min were so bad and mostly grotesque that I had to turn it off. I couldn't take it anymore!
Rating: 
Summary: Revisionist Propaganda
Review: Another Spilbergian piece of Hollywood propaganda about how slavery was bad and it was all the fault of Europeans. Funny that Spielberg chooses to omit the African character's lucrative enterprise in the slave trade when he returns to his homeland. Maybe he should make more movies about the countless Africans who enslaved other Africans to explain how they eventually came to America: after all as Caine said, "Am I not my brother's keeper?"
The movie is filled with false historical characters and gives the impression that the civil rights movement well underway as early as in the 1840s: baloney! Even in the 1860s, abolitionism was nothing but propaganda to lure ignorant zealots as canon fodder to the front lines of the Civil War; the cause of the conflict being a lot more disturbing: carpetbagging industrialists looking for low paying factory slaves to the north and snug plantation dixiecrats wanting to keep their slaves south of the Mason-Dixie line. Perhaps Spielberg should make a movie explaining how the KKK was formed in Connecticut and not the South as most people think.
The film is too revisionist and soft-hearted for my taste. If a point is to be made by such films, then it should give weight to all of the issues involved. Maybe someone will have the guts to do a movie about these truths but,until then, I'll have to continue turning my head in disgust at this Hollywood drivel.
Rating:
Summary: MORE THAN A MOVIE ABOUT LA AMISTAD
Review: AMISTAD tells the story of 1839 events involving a shipload of slaves who, having freed themselves from their captors aboard the cruel slaver La Amistad, try to sail back home. Instead they are tricked into sailing north and are captured in New England. The trial that resulted began in insignificance but escalated until it drew in some of the most powerful individuals of the time, especially former President John Quincy Adams.The fact-based thriller transcends itself in Spielberg's epic. Yes, the story is one of heroism on the part of men trying to secure their freedom. But the real importance of AMISTAD is its gritty, nauseating portrayal of slavery and of those who fought it and of those who espoused it. It tells of how many of the ridiculous politicians of the time continued to bury their heads in the sand rather than take the hard steps that would require America and Americans to live up to the creeds and beliefs that had made them what they were. Djimon Honsou (GLADIATOR) is wonderful in his portrayal of Cinque, the reluctant leader of the band of Africans. Matthew McConaughey portrays Lawyer Roger Sherman Baldwin, Morgan Freeman is Mr. Joadson and Anthony Hopkins is absolutely striking in the role of John Quincy Adams. John Williams provides one of his most soaring and original soundtracks ever. THE HORSEMAN
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